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Cold Start An 11 HP Engine On 10 Small SuperCapacitors

The other day I started the 11 HP log splitter engine using 5 supercapacitors from Amperics. I had to warm up the engine first though. Today I cold started the engine using 10 supercapacitors with no problem.

I first tried using five 400 Farad supercapacitors to start the engine. It had run out of gas the last time it was used so we filled up the tank and tried to start the engine. This is tough at any time becuase there was no fuel in the system at all. It takes a few seconds to get the gas to flow through the system.

The capacitors did not have enough energy for a cold start after a fill up. But after running the engine for a minute on a battery the capacitors started the engine with ease with the battery disconnected. This time I am cold starting the engine with 10 boost capacitors combined and there is no problem at all.

I have two sets of five 400 Farad ultra capacitors comined in series to give me a 15 volt bank. These capacitors from Amperics are superior in that they have more capacitance than average and they have a higher voltage. This allows us to string up fewer capacitors and give us more capacity. You can read the previous article to see all the details here: Starting 11 HP Gas Engine On SuperCapacitors

In summary with six of the average supercapacitors you only get 50 Farads for a 12 volt bank. With the Amperics supercapacitors you get 80 Farads at 15 volts. This is a serious advantage over the competition.

Amperics supercapacitors have the advantage over the competition in this case.

But can they start an engine?

I have two sets of five boost capacitors. The sets are soldered together in series to give me 15 volts per bank. Then the two banks are soldered in parallel to give me double the capacitance - or storage capacity.

I let the engine sit overnight untouched. It was a cold winter night so the engine was quite cold. We do not have a choke on this engine so either it starts or it does not. Everyone knows its harder to start an engine with open choke.

I removed the start battery and put the supercapacitor bank in place. At a cold start the engine fired right up into life immediately.

I let the engine run a minute and watchd the voltmeter on the capacitor bank raise up under charge. Then I shut off the engine and started it back up again. The capacitor bank starts the engine with no problem each time.

And with the two sets of capacitors the wires do not even get warm when starting the engine. The current is split up between the two banks of capacitors, cutting the current in half to each set.

The next test is going to be to try to start the old Simplicity garden tractor on this bank of boost capacitors. This old beast is a twin cylinder and always started hard.